Jay Peters

Hi! I’m a journalist at The Verge. I cover technology, gaming, and more.

Below are select highlights of my work. You can see all of my writing for The Verge on my author page. On Bluesky, I’m @jaypeters.net.

Recent-ish stories I’m proud of

The creator of Papers, Please wants developers to make weirder, more personal games
My interview with Lucas Pope at GDC 2025.

Nintendo’s Switch 2 era comes at a price
I compared how costs for the Nintendo Switch 2 are higher than for the original Switch. (And this was before the increased prices on accessories were announced.)

Ron Wyden asks for rules about whether you own your digital purchases
Senator Wyden’s office reached out specifically to me to write first about this letter he sent to the FTC.

Select coverage from the 2025 Game Developers Conference

Why Balatro’s developer stays anonymous
I talked with two staffers at Playstack, which publishes Balatro, about why LocalThunk, the game’s developer, hasn’t revealed his identity.

Indie studio Heart Machine is experimenting with Patreon because ‘money is tough to come by’
I spoke with Heart Machine, the developers behind games like Hyper Light Drifter and Solar Ash, about its Patreon.

7 cool indie games from GDC 2025
Here are 7 games my colleague Andrew Webster and I liked at GDC 2025. (My favorite was Faraway.)

Features

How Reddit crushed the biggest protest in its history

Elon Musk’s Twitter, one year later

Former Kotaku writers are launching a new video game site — and they own it this time

Interviews

Epic has a plan for the rest of the decade (interviews with Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney and EVP Saxs Persson)

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman isn’t backing down: our full interview

Limited Run gives digital games a physical legacy (interview with Limited Run Games CEO Josh Fairhurst)

Reviews

The best indie games we’re playing right now
I’ve been a key contributor to making this storystream (in Verge parlance) of articles and reviews about indie games The Verge recommends.

Citizen Sleeper 2 is the good kind of stressful

Meta Quest 3S review: probably the one we’ve been waiting for

Media Appearances

CBS News: Bluesky picking up steam as alternative to X

CNBC Last Call segment about Kai Cenat’s chaotic giveaway in Union Square

CBC News: ELI5: What’s the deal with the Reddit blackout? | About That

Verge Media Appearances

TikTok video about Nintendo’s efforts to beat Switch 2 pre-order scalpers

Instagram video about Linda Yaccarino and Yoel Roth at Code 2023

A Vergecast episode about the protests on Reddit in 2023

Previous Jobs

Before The Verge, I worked at Techmeme and WE Communications.

Other Stuff

Emoji

I drafted accepted emoji proposals for:

🫡 Saluting Face (one of two accepted proposals for Saluting Face)
🫧 Bubbles
🧇 Waffle
🥱 Yawning Face

I also wrote a story for The Verge about how I made the yawning face and waffle emoji.

Running

I like to run long distances and have completed four marathons:

A Treat For Reading This Far

In 2010, I played bass drum for the University of Oregon Marching Band and nearly ran over a camera person at the Rose Bowl.